Some projects move at the snails pace while others bolt through production. Our recent commercial for Unlimited Possibilities didn’t hit a single speed snag. In a span of 15 days, we met, we planned, and edited the finished piece you see above.
From the get-go the Spiracle Media creative team was tasked to come up with a :30 second spot that touched on four main points. We needed to highlight the home atmosphere of the specialized assisted living facility, the fixed pricing, the resident/staff ratio, and the emotional impact it has on family members. Whew… That’s a lot to corral into a tiny video.
The production day lasted five hours. The interviews were the most time consuming. We did those with two cameras. Our main camera was a Canon 70d with a Sigma 18-35 1:8 lens. It was placed to the side of the interviewer. Our second camera was a Canon 60d outfitted with
another Sigma 18-35 1:8 lens. We placed it nearly 90 degrees off the main camera and closer to the subject. The operator of the second camera normally does a subtle pan during the questioning.
We’ve been shooting more and more interviews like this. It helps us with editing and gives a
more polished look to our final products. The hardest part of implementing this technique is
syncing the video in post.
We were stoked to see the video when we got back to the office. It looked great. Good video
usually leads to good editing.
While we were going through the sound, we were moved by what one of the subjects said. She described her mothers anguish seeing her friends being placed in less than acceptable assisted living facilities. In the interview you can hear her daughter’s voice crack and see her eyes fill
with water. You can hear relief coming over her when she recalls what it was like finding Unlimited Possibilities.
At this point we made an executive decision. Instead of hitting on all the points our client originally wanted, we decided to make this one sound bite our commercial. It’s a risky move. Our client was either going to love it, or scold us for not following instructions. We sent the draft and held our breath.
They loved it. Our intuition was right. We made some tweaks, but the final project didn’t change much.
That’s the way it goes sometimes. A speedy process is often the result of good clients, great
communication and trust.
